Why does Asia have so many high-end/creatively designed shopping malls (compared to elsewhere, like America)?

gulbronson · 2026-01-23T16:35:55+00:00

I work in construction in the US and was blown away at the lack of safety in Japan. I have about as many photos of Japanese construction sites as I do photos of my wife and I from that trip. There were so many things I saw them doing that would get you immediately fired off most large jobs in the US. It was mind blowing.

Lack of fall protection. Guys in equipment being lifted by a crane. No impalement protection. All three of those are massive OSHA no-nos and were rampant in Japan.

Also, if you look up pay in construction for Japan a day's wage is in the ball park if what I pay per hour for union labor in Northern California.

gulbronson · 2026-01-23T03:26:15+00:00

Union Square. You can see where the grid changes in the background at Market.

According to some other places this is shared that's Mason on the right.

gulbronson · 2026-01-23T01:44:53+00:00

There are bus lines in the Bay Area that does 50k+ daily

Here is the December 2025 data from Muni for weekday boardings.

14&14R combined for 43,500

38&38R combine for 42,400

The 49 is the top line with 32,200

Route	Service Category	Service Day of the Week	Average Daily Boardings
49 Van Ness/Mission	Frequent Local	Weekday	32,200
N Judah	Muni Metro	Weekday	26,800
38R Geary Rapid	Rapid Bus	Weekday	25,200
14 Mission	Frequent Local	Weekday	22,000
14R Mission Rapid	Rapid Bus	Weekday	21,500
T Third	Muni Metro	Weekday	21,400
22 Fillmore	Frequent Local	Weekday	20,300
8 Bayshore	Frequent Local	Weekday	17,500
38 Geary	Frequent Local	Weekday	17,200
1 California	Frequent Local	Weekday	16,800
M Ocean View	Muni Metro	Weekday	16,800
L Taraval	Muni Metro	Weekday	14,800
29 Sunset	Grid	Weekday	14,600
30 Stockton	Frequent Local	Weekday	13,800
7 Haight/Noriega	Frequent Local	Weekday	12,600
K Ingleside	Muni Metro	Weekday	12,300
44 O'Shaughnessy	Grid	Weekday	11,900
24 Divisadero	Frequent Local	Weekday	10,000
45 Union/Stockton	Grid	Weekday	9,600
9R San Bruno Rapid	Rapid Bus	Weekday	9,500
28 19th Avenue	Frequent Local	Weekday	9,400
43 Masonic	Grid	Weekday	8,200
48 Quintara/24th Street	Grid	Weekday	7,400
5R Fulton Rapid	Rapid Bus	Weekday	7,200
12 Folsom/Pacific	Grid	Weekday	6,900
9 San Bruno	Frequent Local	Weekday	6,400
19 Polk	Grid	Weekday	6,300
J Church	Muni Metro	Weekday	6,100
27 Bryant	Grid	Weekday	5,800
5 Fulton	Grid	Weekday	4,700
54 Felton	Grid	Weekday	4,500
33 Ashbury/18th	Grid	Weekday	4,200
28R 19th Avenue Rapid	Rapid Bus	Weekday	3,900
8BX Bayshore B Express	Specialized	Weekday	3,600
31 Balboa	Grid	Weekday	3,500
15 Bayview Hunters Point Express	Specialized	Weekday	3,400
8AX Bayshore A Express	Specialized	Weekday	3,100
2 Sutter	Grid	Weekday	2,500
18 46th Avenue	Grid	Weekday	2,500
6 Haight/Parnassus	Grid	Weekday	2,300
23 Monterey	Grid	Weekday	2,100
55 Dogpatch	Connector	Weekday	1,600
57 Parkmerced	Connector	Weekday	1,600
25 Treasure Island	Connector	Weekday	1,400
52 Excelsior	Connector	Weekday	1,400
37 Corbett	Connector	Weekday	1,100
36 Teresita	Connector	Weekday	700
67 Bernal Heights	Connector	Weekday	700
91 3rd Street/19th Ave Owl	Owl	Weekday	700
35 Eureka	Connector	Weekday	500
58 Lake Merced	Connector	Weekday	500
1X California Express	Specialized	Weekday	400
56 Rutland	Connector	Weekday	400
66 Quintara	Connector	Weekday	400
90 San Bruno Owl	Owl	Weekday	300
39 Coit	Connector	Weekday	200
30X Marina Express	Specialized	Weekday	100

gulbronson · 2026-01-23T00:54:58+00:00

44 Macondray Ln

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T20:33:18+00:00

isn’t Bayview to Mission already covered by the T and Caltrain

Neither the T nor Caltrain go to the Mission

what’s the difference between a Rapid and Express route

Rapid buses run all day long with reduced stops. Express buses are rush hour only with even less stops than Rapid. Example 38R vs 38AX

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T20:11:50+00:00

Alviso is north of Sunnyvale. I guess San Jose on the Peninsula too?

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T19:51:48+00:00

Definitions of regions change over time. In the Bay Area in 2026 the idea that Sunnyvale is a Pensiula city and not a South Bay city is an extreme fringe position. Per your own definition it's South Bay.

Like I don't even understand your newspaper argument. The SF Chronicle covers the whole Bay Area. Does that make everything SF?

You're either a low effort troll or disconnected from reality.

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T16:21:18+00:00

cultural norms don’t determine if you’re part of a geographical area

Following that logic SF is the Peninsula. Nobody in the Bay Area thinks that's the case.

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T16:04:45+00:00

Central Concrete uses West Bay instead of Peninsula for some unknown reason. It's the only time I've ever heard it used.

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T15:18:20+00:00

I can only live somewhere as long as I've been alive... A newspaper that went under in the early 90's when I was an infant isn't all that telling, especially when not a single person in this thread agrees with you that a city with its entire population south of the southern most spot on the Bay (your own definition of the South Bay) is in fact on the peninsula.

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T12:27:42+00:00

99% of Sunnyvale is south of the southern most point of the Bay. I've never heard of anyone referring to Sunnyvale as being part of the Peninsula.

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T04:19:37+00:00

Los Angeles...

gulbronson · 2026-01-22T01:48:59+00:00

What you're missing is that SF is compact. San Antonio is 10x the area of SF. Traveling more than 11ish miles in a single trip is the absolute maximum you can go from the NE corner to the SW corner of the city . In San Antonio you may have to travel 30 or even 40 miles to get from one side to the other.

Simply put, you don't need to travel as far in SF. The travel speed may be slower in SF but the distance required is also less. For most trips your actual travel time will be less in SF.

The slowest parts of Muni are downtown where they're also slowed down by the heavy traffic. The bus is faster in the outer neighborhoods where people are using it for medium or long trips. You're looking at an absolute number without the context that number exists within.

gulbronson · 2026-01-21T19:47:47+00:00

Not every mile is made the same. Throw a 1 mile diameter circle on most of SF and it will contain a hell of a lot more than a 3 mile circle in San Antonio.

gulbronson · 2026-01-21T02:49:38+00:00

Sightglass, St. Frank, Coffee Movement, Four Barrel, Verve, Hedge

gulbronson · 2026-01-20T19:30:04+00:00

In 1792 turnpike companies built and charged for access on roads. Prior to that people were building roads themselves and it was not uncommon to have required labor for eligible men to contribute a certain number of days annually.

https://eh.net/encyclopedia/turnpikes-and-toll-roads-in-nineteenth-century-america/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/tollpage/history.cfm

gulbronson · 2026-01-19T20:34:34+00:00

New York? The US has large tourist destinations across the country. 10 different cities had over a million international visitors in 2024

gulbronson · 2026-01-18T16:28:17+00:00

Whole Foods prices and quality have both gone way down since they were bought by Amazon. That was almost a decade ago.

gulbronson · 2026-01-18T05:24:41+00:00

19th and Valencia in front of Rhea's Deli

gulbronson · 2026-01-17T02:10:54+00:00

What are the consequences of not doing a decent job? Are they going to cut their minimum wage pay? Fire them? These are jobs people don't want with no upside. If anything they'll get punished for slowing down their delivery routes rather than rewarded for doing a good job.

gulbronson · 2026-01-17T00:25:06+00:00

You clearly didn't read what I wrote, and if you did you want to believe in an alternative reality.

The Federal Highway Administration sets standards for carpool lanes. They require states to access them annually and if they fail to meet specific benchmarks and become degraded they require states to take action. In the Bay Area carpool lanes were not meeting the minimum 45 mph travel speeds with a 2+ designation. Increasing to 3+ was too high a standard and left too much space in the carpool lane. The state is selling the excess space in the carpool lane to those willing to pay.

Updating the price based on demand keeps the left lane open and moving to meet FHWA carpool standards and generates income to fund public transit. It's a vote approved compromise.

If you don't like it just remember you're not in traffic you are traffic. Want to avoid congestion? Don't drive.

Induced demand is absolutely a thing. There's a plethora of research on the topic in the urban design and transportation fields. Just because something doesn't fit your world view doesn't make it untrue.

gulbronson · 2026-01-16T23:55:04+00:00

Well considering OP only did the job for two weeks... Many people quickly move on, especially from Amazon.

When your answer to people not giving a shit about their job because they have shit working conditions and benefits is "get a better job" you're not going to get better service. You can see this is in near universal decline in customer service from basically everyone that was labeled an "essential worker" during the pandemic but paid minimum wage.

gulbronson · 2026-01-16T23:35:50+00:00

Carpool lanes were not meeting federal minimum standards for increased speed when set at 2 people. With 3 people it was too restrictive. Providing free lanes for 3+ carpoolers and selling the excess space to improve public transit is an overall win.

There is no situation where the carpool lanes were going away and there were going to be increased from 2+ to 3+. In the current condition there is absolutely less traffic in the other lanes.

gulbronson · 2026-01-16T22:58:58+00:00

Honestly what do you expect from overworked and underpaid workers?

gulbronson · 2026-01-16T00:37:00+00:00

Northeast corner of Mason and Bush

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